Russian companies have earned some three trillion US dollars from the sale of oil and gas abroad since Vladimir Putin came to power; but instead of using this money to increase the capitalization of these firms or to transform the economy, Russians have exported more than half of that to foreign accounts and the purchase of property abroad.

That is the conclusion of analysts at the Oilstat portal in an unusually detailed article which suggests that the Putin years for Russia have been ones of missed opportunities at home although they have left the wealthiest Russians and the state with an enormous amount of money abroad that can be used for various purposes.

Between 2002 and the end of 2016, they say, “Russia received additional income of approximately three trillion US dollars from the export of fuel and other goods. These means could have changed the mono-cultural economy of Russia,” they argue. But “this didn’t happen. And so, where did all these trillions go?”

They didn’t go to the increase in the capitalization of the companies involved. In fact, these companies had to come to the Russian state for assistance, something that should not have been needed had they retained these profits. A portion went to funding the sovereign fund and hard currency reserves and for financing an increase in foreign investment in Russia.

But, Oilstat says, “the main part of the money was sent abroad on the private accounts of the constantly growing group of the wealthiest citizens of Russia who actively worked in foreign financial markets or in property markets.”

What it did not go into abroad was into investments that would send earnings back to Russia, as one might have expected. According to the Russian Central Bank, this export of money out of Russia amounted to 1.56 trillion US dollars. Independent analysts suggest that number may in fact understate the amount.

“Wealthy Russians have put billions in their own accounts in foreign banks and brokerage accounts or in property. And although a significant part of the transfers … were carried on a legal basis, analysts recognize, Oilstat says, that much of it went via uncontrolled and illegal channels.”

That means, although Oilstat’s analysts don’t say this, that there is an enormous amount of money in the hands of oligarchs — who are working with the Kremlin and on whom they depend for their standing — can deploy it for political as well as economic goals, thus creating a dangerous new challenge for the international community.

How ironic. Vovochka Putin who has become Russia’s foremost Pederast, Imperialist and Chauvinist (if you don’t count rabid morons such as Vovochka Zhirinovsky), has in all probability stashed the bulk of his financial assets (similar to other Russian oligarchs) in safe havens abroad while preaching that his program of aggression would make Russia great again. But why would he and his fellow criminal oligarchs discard any notion of investing their ill gotten gains in Russia? There are a number of reasons, including: 1) These malefactors have never trusted the Russian economy to perform in the same way as Western industrial powers, 2) Placing their assets in offshore accounts would ensure a proper education for their offspring as well as a rich lifestyle for their loved ones, 3) In all likelihood, their assets could not be expropriated by any Russian Government, and finally, 4) If any particular oligarch (including Putin) began to fear for their own safety and could get out in time, then they could live out the rest of their lives in luxury provided that they were not kidnapped, extradited or assassinated. So if true and there would be little reason to believe otherwise, then all of these totally corrupt and murderous scoundrels could only view Russia in one way. Russia is and has always been a prime example of a super sized Potemkin village.

Mick Servian

Again more pedophile projection.

Brent

Again more Putin a$$ki$$ing by “Dick Servant”

Mick Servian

Hahaha
Nah but honest question here?
How come you mention pedophiles and Dicks so much?
Are you secretly enamored and intrigued or is it automatic?

svend

A normal reaction from a litttle Russian Teen.

Mick Servian

What?
Did u just say you like teenagers?
Should you be reported?

Andrew Chmile

he’s a ***SERBIAN*** —- same low class scumbag, new name.

Vulgar people!
Stupid as well!

He FINALLY got some **ATTENTION** — he was desperate for days & days… He’s also mentally ill — seriously! — Talks about “medications”.

First, they are mutilating sexually by criminally assaulting small girls, and even infants. Physicians for Peace, a worldwide operation, has documented cases of Serbs raping 3-year-old girls.

[[[[[[[[[[[[[

“I saw Serbs raping children—girls as young as six and eight years old.” She said she and others could do nothing. If a woman objected too strenuously, she said, “they slit your throat.”

[[[[[[[[[[[[[

“A physician who is a friend of my father came to my father’s house one evening extremely distressed—crying, screaming, wailing. He had treated an eight-year old girl after she had been gang-raped by Serbians. She was torn apart inside. She was bleeding so badly he couldn’t stop it. She was in great pain and could not be repaired. He told my father he had injected her and killed her to relieve her suffering. ”

An issue to consider would be if they use that wealth to undermine western economies and politics?
How much have they spent to destabilize Ukraine and what was their role in the US elections?
Wouldn’t Putin rise above Stalin if he brought havoc in the “capitalist west”?

Oknemfrod

Very well put, Ihor. And they continue on the same path unabated and will do so incessantly till Russia is sucked dead dry. The question is whether the Russians have the spine to do something about it before their stomach hit their spine and whether the West has the stomach to abstain from bailing it again this time around. It has done many times in the past and always with the same result of being bitten (and spat at for good measure) by the dog just rescued from starvation.

zorbatheturk

Putin has a villa in the south of France, reportedly.

veth

And in Greece………….

zorbatheturk

Drown Putin in retsina.

Murf

3 TRILLION DOLLARS!
It’s worse than I thought.
With an average exchange rate of 40 $ the the Ruble that 120 trillion Rubles over 10 odd years.
It boggles the mind.
Enough to fundamentally reshape the Russian economy for the next century.
Now it’s gone.
Piift!
Like smoke.
And they stilllove this guy.
A Russian “man on the street” was once if he cared about the coruption.
Ha answered that as long as he had enough to get by, he didn’t care.
A quote from the movie “the magnificent seven” summed it up:
“If God had not meant for them to be sheared, he would not have made them sheep.”

At least $21 trillion in illicit wealth is hidden offshore by the super rich, many of whom are RuSSian crooks and oligarchs. Cayman Islands is the world’s fifth largest depository of offshore bank deposits – about $2 trillion there. The other four main offshore banking centres are the US, UK, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. Ownership of the wealth is hidden via shell companies with nominee officers. A company set up in certain jurisdictions can also have bearer shares which hide the underlying ownership of an asset completely. Megayachts and luxury real estate in London, Florida, Dubai, New York etc are popular ways to launder the money.

About the Source

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. He has served as director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn, and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. Earlier he has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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